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Mackenzie Dern Armbars Amanda Ribas in UFC Vegas 101 Headliner


The second verse was different from the first.

Mackenzie Dern avenged a 2019 decision defeat to Amanda Ribas and continued to reassert herself as serious contender in the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight division, as she submitted the Brazilian with an armbar in the third round of their UFC Fight Night 249 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Ribas (13-6, 7-5 UFC) raised the white flag 4:56 into Round 3.

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The rivals traded strikes, takedowns and positional control through two competitive rounds. Ribas grounded the 2015 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Fighting World Championships gold medalist early in the third, only to slowly wander into danger. Dern swept into mount under threat of an armbar and pounded away with elbows and punches before once again isolating a limb. She sat back on the armbar, activated her hips with time running out and left Ribas no choice but to capitulate.

Meanwhile, American Top Team mainstay Santiago Ponzinibbio disposed of Carlston Harris with punches in the third round of their welterweight co-main event. Referee Kerry Hatley called for the standing stoppage while a dazed Harris (19-7, 4-3 UFC) was returning fire 3:13 into Round 3.

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Ponzinibbio (30-8, 12-7 UFC) withstood a furious assault from the ex-Brave Combat Federation titleholder in a first round that saw him survive multiple knockdowns. Harris’ awkward striking gave the Argentinian fits, as he paired left hooks with clubbing overhand rights. Ponzinibbio stayed the course, leaned on his experience, marked up the Renovacao Fight Team rep with thudding punches of his own and slowly turned the tide in his favor. He clipped Harris with three right crosses in the third round, bullied him to the canvas and let fly with punches. It was not enough initially. Harris returned to a standing position, hit the deck again on the end of a left hook, stood and absorbed more punishment along the fence, at which point Hatley intervened.

The win was Ponzinibbio’s first since December 2022.

Further down the card, Dana White’s Contender Series graduate Cesar Almeida short-circuited Abdul Razak Alhassan with a savage counter left hook in the first round of their middleweight firefight. Almeida (7-1, 3-1 UFC) closed it out 4:16 into Round 1.

Alhassan (12-7, 6-7 UFC) sat down the Brazilian on a surgical right cross with a little more than a minute remaining in the opening stanza and flurried with ground-and-pound for a potential finish. Almeida moved back to an upright position, at which point he was met with more aggression from “Judo Thunder.” Alhassan cut loose with wild power punches, left himself exposed and paid a steep price. Almeida detonated a vicious left hook on the jaw and sent the 39-year-old Elevation Fight Team product crashing violently to the canvas, stiff, unconscious and supine.

Almeida has delivered five of his seven career victories by knockout or technical knockout, four of them inside one round.

Elsewhere, former Fight Nights Global champion Roman Kopylov cut down Chris Curtis with a last-second head kick in the third round of their middleweight feature. Curtis (31-12, 5-4 UFC) met his end 4:59 into Round 3, losing for the second time in as many outings.

They went for tit for tat for nearly 15 full minutes, trading punches and kicks while paying now mind to their own physical well-being. Kopylov (14-3, 6-3 UFC) was more varied in his attack but had issues keeping the Xtreme Couture veteran at bay. Curtis doubled and tripled up on his jab, opened a cut above his opponent’s right eye in the second round and took care of business whenever he moved forward, often ripping the body with hooks from both hands. Kopylov found a second wind in Round 3, where he staggered the ex-CES MMA champion more than once. With time winding down, he felled Curtis with a head kick and prompted a puzzling stoppage from referee Mark Smith despite not following up with any additional shots. Curtis was incensed with Smith in the immediate aftermath.

Kopylov has racked up six victories across his past seven appearances.

Deeper into the draw, Roufusport’s Christian Rodriguez outstruck the previously unbeaten Austin Bashi to a unanimous decision in their three-round featherweight attraction. All three members of the cageside judiciary scored it the same: 29-28 for Rodriguez (12-2, 5-2 UFC).

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Bashi (13-1, 0-1 UFC) endured a difficult first round, where the Octagon debutant was greeted by a variety of strikes and threatened with a guillotine choke. The prospect kept his composure and rallied in the middle stanza, as he executed multiple takedowns, piled up considerable control time and scored with intermittent ground-and-pound. It was not enough to knock Rodriguez off his mark. The Duke Roufus protégé tightened up his takedown across the final five minutes and followed multi-punch volleys with ringing knee strikes up the middle, doing more than enough damage to curry the necessary favor on the scorecards.

Rodriguez, 27, has won five of his past six bouts.

Finally, Xtreme Couture standout Punahele Soriano put away Uros Medic with punches in the first round of their welterweight appetizer. Medic (10-3, 4-3 UFC) checked out 31 seconds into Round 1, suffering the first knockout loss of his 13-fight career.

Soriano (11-4, 5-4 UFC) showed no regard for his opponent’s skills. He absorbed a straight left to the body, backed up Medic with a glancing left hand and floored him with a clean right hook. Soriano followed him to the canvas and polished off his third sub-minute finish as a professional.

The 32-year-old Soriano has recorded back-to-back victories since he moved to 170 pounds.

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